Musical Monday 20
Welcome to the twentieth edition of Musical Monday, the weekly quiz that Soccer Dad and I alternate hosting. For each numbered song quote below, identify the title and artist, as well as the common theme of the set of songs. There happen to be 20 songs in the quiz this week as well, but this is a mere coincidence - the number "20" has no bearing on the solution.
1) "Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike"
2) "He was mean and ugly and nasty and horrible and all kinds of things"
3) "I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats"
4) "And Scotland Yard was trying hard, they sent a dude with a calling card"
5) "Eating chocolate cake in a bag"
6) "Drinking white rum in a Portugal bar"
7) "As the businessmen slowly get stoned"
8) "People stood in line and didn't seem to mind"
9) "Set up like a bowlin' pin, knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin"
10) "Smokin' cigarettes and writing something nasty on the wall"
11) "The quartet practiced in the park"
12) "With a few red lights and a few old beds"
13) "Til' a 20-inch cymbal fell and cut the lamps"
14) "Started humming a song from 1962"
15) "The audience was heavenly, but the traveling was hell"
16) "Through the too many miles and the two little smiles"
17) "I sat on a rug, biding my time"
18) "Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair"
19) "Smell those shrimp they're beginning to boil"
20) "Their small town eyes will gape at you in dull surprise"
Enjoy and good luck!
posted by Elie @ 11/12/2007 07:35:00 AM -
16 Comments:
7. Piano Man - Billy Joel
Tova
Doh, Tova beat me to it. Have to think about the others.
l) Ooh, ooh, I can't remember the name of the song, but it was a standing-on-note history of the founding of the Mamas and the Papas:
"Standing on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike
Get me to New York right away!"
. . .
"And no one's gettin' fat, 'cept Mama Cass."
They were a good group, quoth the ex-synagogue-choir alto and lifelong harmony freak. :)
4.Blinded by the light-Bruce Springsteen
5.The Ballad of John and Yoko-The Beatles
7.Billy Joel-Piano Man
12.Smoke on the Water-Deep Purple
13.Long Live Rock-The Who
14.Night Moves-Bob Seeger
17.Norweigan Wood-The Beatles
7.Piano Man-Billy Joel
18.Someone Saved My Life Tonight-Elton John
The theme is biography?
Autobiography would be a better way to put it.
11. american pie - don maclean
19) Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett
9) Truckin' - Grateful Dead
16) Taxi - Harry Chapin - Heh, I always thought it was "too little smiles," even if it was less grammatical.
Actually most of the lyrics sites do have it as "too little smiles", but I want to believe "two" is what Chapin intended. It's so much cleverer a lyric!
20. At Seventeen - Janis Ian
I know that I've heard #15 but I can't quite think of the rest of it...
And 1 by the way is called Creque Alley that tells the story of the creation not just of the Mamas and Papas, but the Lovin' Spoonful too.
Creque Alley? The lyrics certainly ring a bell, but that name does not. Maybe I left my memory in the other room. :)
Great job, Tova, Shira, Lel, Yitzchak, SS, Soccer Dad, and Gail! Together, you identified 14 out of 20 songs, our highest percentage yet! And special kudos to Yitzchak for nailing the theme, which was Autobiographical songs.
A quick clarification: It's been argued that close to 75% of all songs are autobiographical to one degree or another, since they reflect the author's thoughts, feelings, or experiences. So for this quiz, I used a fairly narrow definition by limiting my entries to songs that:
a) were specifically confirmed by their authors to be autobiographical, even if a few details may have been embellished (see e.g. #16), and
b) tell a story about a specific incident or period in the artist/band's life, in relatively vivid detail. I specifically tried to avoid more general "life on the road" songs, a topic Soccer Dad covered in one of the early MMs if I'm not mistaken.
That said, here are the full set of responses:
1) "Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike"
- The Mamas and the Papas, "Creeque Alley"
2) "He was mean and ugly and nasty and horrible and all kind of things"
- Arlo Guthrie, "Alice's Restaurant" (with Thanksgiving coming, nobody got this one?? Oy!)
3) "I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats"
- Rod Stewart, "Every Picture Tells a Story"
4) "And Scotland Yard was trying hard, they sent a dude with a calling card"
- Bruce Springsteen, "Blinded By The Light"
5) "Eating chocolate cake in a bag"
- Beatles, "The Ballad of John and Yoko"
6) "Drinking white rum in a Portugal bar"
- Bob Dylan, "Sara"
7) "As the businessmen slowly get stoned"
- Billy Joel, "Piano Man"
8) "People stood in line and didn't seem to mind"
- Boston, "Rock and Roll Band"
9) "Set up like a bowlin' pin, knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin"
- Grateful Dead, "Truckin"
10) "Smokin' cigarettes and writing something nasty on the wall"
- Stevie Wonder, "I Wish"
11) "The quartet practiced in the park"
- Dom McLean, "American Pie"
12) "With a few red lights and a few old beds"
- Deep Purple, "Smoke on the Water"
13) "Til' a 20-inch cymbal fell and cut the lamps"
- The Who, "Long Live Rock"
14) "Started humming a song from 1962"
- Bob Seger, "Night Moves"
15) "The audience was heavenly, but the traveling was hell"
- Dan Fogelberg, "Same Old Lang Syne"
16) "Through the too many miles and the two little smiles"
- Harry Chapin, "Taxi"
17) "I sat on a rug, biding my time"
- Beatles, "Norwegian Wood"
18) "Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair"
- Elton John, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
19) "Smell those shrimp they're beginning to boil"
- Jimmy Buffett, "Margaritaville"
20) "Their small town eyes will gape at you in dull surprise"
- Janis Ian, "At Seventeen"
As Soccer Dad confirmed, we'll be swapping our next two turns for Musical Monday. So I’ll be back this coming week with MM #21 (11/19), with Soccer Dad taking the following two, #22-23 (11/26 and 12/3).
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